G'day (Australian for hello)

I can't believe there are so many of you with the same affliction as me!

I have a mixed bag of pens. I collect/acquire but not to look at - I use all my pens. I love the feel of ink on paper and a good fountain pen in my hand. (I also have one Mont Blanc biro that I love).

My collection highlights include a Mont Blanc Hemingway (I do love mont blanc), a Waterman Edison, and an Omas 360 (the nicest to write with - but very big!). After that, I have an old Dunhill (no idea what model), a Parker Duo, a couple of Parker 51s and miscellaneous vintage parkers, shaeffers and an old Conklin.

As for my other predispositions: jazz (especially Bill Evans), politics (Hillary or Osama?) and Australian Rules football (ask and I'll explain).

Welcome tp FPN.

Hello and Welcome

G'day
you are not alone - I'm another Melbournian.

Pete

Howdy.
I'm a user rather than a collector as well. Mine was a bit more haphazard until recently. Now I have two piston fillers and I think I may never buy another cartridge pen again.

You damn right you struck gold!

Hello from yet *another* Melbournian! *wavey*

There are a lot of us here, just look around. You'd be surprised. Welcome to the forum.

Hello and welcome aboard the FPN!

Hello and welcome to FPN.

Welcome to FPN! (from 2 hours drive east of Melbourne)

Melbourne is a good city for fountain pen addicts.

There are at least 5 "new pen" stores
Pen City (great range of stock, Noodler's inks available)
The Pen Place
Tafts (4 outlets)
The Pen Store (Ferntree Gully) (Pilot Capless/VP available)
Melbourne Pen Depot (Chadstone Shopping Centre)

and at least one good vintage/restored pen source that I know of
Melbourne Vintage Pens

There are also some good paper stores
MyOffice in Collins Street (Kokuyo Campus paper, similar to Apica)
The Source in Queen Street (Crown Mill paper - warning: significant texture, but try the cream laid)
(Thanks to InkyPete and Phthalo for those.)

I see Pepe's Paperie has opened a store in Melbourne - they stock J.Herbin inks.

Add to this the other Australian stores (both online-only and bricks-and-mortar), fountain pens in newsagents, the Myer pen counter, unexpected Lamy and Inoxcrom pens in unlikely stores, possible finds in antique stores and markets, and there are a whole lot of fountain pens around.
Add to that all the international online stores and they're nearly inescapable - I'm surprised it took me so long to notice them.

An open offer to Australian residents, particularly pen users rather than collectors - I currently have available for postal circulation a set of small pads and some loose papers from various paper makers showing a variety of written ink samples - let me know by PM (private message) if you'd like to see them. Paper samples from companies such as Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Apica, Kokuyo, Crown Mill, and more readily available papers such as Pukka, Tudor (Spicer), and Spirax (Esselte) - more added as I find them (again, credits and thanks to InkyPete and Phthalo for contributions making up the bulk of this selection).
Add your own ink samples, try out the paper. Some excellent papers and at least one really bad example as an educational contrast (smooth surface but bad feathering and bleedthrough).

Regards, Myles.

Hi from Sydney and welcome to FPN!

Welcome to the forum. Also a user but not an abuser. Is ink flow in the southern hemisphere in the opposite direction?

Just kidding.

Welcome and greetings from Queensland!

Hello and welcome to FPN!!

Hi there from up here again. I'm not from there or the US or the UK.
But happy to say that me too, I collect FPs to write with 'em.

Best wishes

Mike

Thankyou all for your welcomes!!! Great to see so many Melbournians!